Ancient Elvish Language

Natively known as: a̋lfey /ˈɑlfeɪ̯/

...and he stood holding his hat and turned his wet face to the wind...
xayc d̬i̋g sa̋m pib d̬i̋g thi̋p xayc rit d̬i̋g ca̋te sir miag ci̋t
Pronunciation: /χaɪ̯k ðɪg sɑm pib ðɪg θɪp χaɪ̯k ɾit ðɪg ˈkɑtɛ siɾ ˈmiæg kɪt/
Early Elvish word order: and he stood holding his hat and turned his wet face the wind to

Spelling & Phonology

Consonant inventory: b d f g k m n p s t ð ɾ ʃ θ χ

↓Manner/Place→	Bilabial	Labiodental	Dental	Alveolar	Palato-alveolar	Velar	Uvular
Nasal	m			n
Stop	p b			d t		k g
Fricative		f	ð θ	s	ʃ		χ
Tap				ɾ

Vowel inventory: aɪ̯ aʊ̯ eɪ̯ i o u æ ɑ ɛ ɪ
Diphthongs: aɪ̯ aʊ̯ eɪ̯ ?

	Front	Back
High	i	u
Near-high	ɪ
High-mid		o
Low-mid	ɛ
Near-low	æ
Low		ɑ

Syllable structure: Custom defined ?
Stress pattern: Initial — stress is on the first syllable ?
Spelling rules:

Pronunciation	Spelling
æ	a
ɛ	e
ɑ	a̋
eɪ̯	ey
aɪ̯	ay
ɪ	i̋
aʊ̯	ou
θ	th
ɾ	r
ð	d̬
ʃ	sh
k	c
χ	x

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Grammar

Main word order: Subject Verb Object (Prepositional phrase). “Mary opened the door with a key” turns into Mary opened the door with a key.
Adjective order: Adjectives are positioned before the noun.
Adposition: postpositions ?

Noun affixes

Singular	No affix xinna̋ /ˈχinnɑ/ dog
Plural	Suffix -ɛn xinna̋en /ˈχinnɑɛn/ dogs

Articles

	Definite	Indefinite
Singular	bey /beɪ̯/ the	mu /mu/ a
Plural	ti /ti/ the	so /so/ some

Uses of definite article that differ from English:

• Definite article can be omitted: ‘I am going to supermarket’
• Used to talk about countable nouns in general: English’s ‘I like cats’ would translate to ‘I like the cats’
• Not used for mass (uncountable) nouns: ‘Walking in the mud’ would always translate to ‘Walking in mud’.
• Used for personal names in third person: ‘The Maria has left for school’

Uses of indefinite article that differ from English:

• Not used for non-specific countable nouns: non-specific means ‘I am looking for a (any) girl in a red dress’, whereas specific means ‘I am looking for a (particular) girl in a red dress’
• Not used for non-specific mass (uncountable) nouns: non-specific means ‘Would you like some (any) tea?’ whereas specific means ‘Some tea (a specific amount) fell off the truck’

Pronouns

1st person	du /du/ I, me, mine, we, us, ours
2nd person	mey /meɪ̯/ you, you all, yours, yours (pl)
3rd person	d̬i̋g /ðɪg/ he, him, his, she, her, hers, it, its, they, them, theirs

Possessive determiners

	Possessive
1st singular	du /du/ my
2nd singular	mey /meɪ̯/ your
3rd singular masc	d̬i̋g /ðɪg/ his
3rd singular fem	d̬i̋g /ðɪg/ hers
1st plural inclusive	ours (including you) /ˈours ˈincluding ˈyou)/ our (including you)
1st plural exclusive	ours (excluding you) /ˈours ˈexcluding ˈyou)/ our (excluding you)
2nd plural	mey /meɪ̯/ your (pl)
3rd plural	d̬i̋g /ðɪg/ their

Verbs

Present	No affix thud̬ /θuð/ learn
Past	Prefix maɪ̯- maythud̬ /ˈmaɪ̯θuð/ learned
Future	Prefix ʃi- shithud̬ /ˈʃiθuð/ will learn

Perfect aspect

The perfect aspect in English is exemplified in ‘I have read this book’, which expresses an event that took place before the time spoken but which has an effect on or is in some way still relevant to the present.
Early Elvish uses an affix for the perfect aspect:

Perfect

Prefix kɑ- ca̋thud̬ /ˈkɑθuð/ have learned

Numbers

Early Elvish has a base-10 number system:
1 - rux
2 - xoub
3 - pus
4 - gum
5 - ca
6 - d̬a̋
7 - ca̋ftap
8 - cayp
9 - tayc
10 - nam
100 - thug
1000 - cemod

Derivational morphology

Adjective → adverb = Suffix -di
Adjective → noun (the quality of being [adj]) = Suffix -ðɪ
Adjective → verb (to make something [adj]) = Suffix -fi
Noun → adjective (having the quality of [noun]) = Suffix -neɪ̯
Noun → adjective relating to noun (e.g. economy → economic) = Suffix -mi
Noun to verb = Prefix tæ-
Verb → adjective (result of doing [verb]) = Suffix -mo
Tending to = Prefix go-
Verb → noun (the act of [verb]) = Suffix -bu
Verb → noun that verb produces (e.g. know → knowledge) = Prefix kɪ-
One who [verb]s (e.g. paint → painter) = Prefix mu-
Place of (e.g. wine → winery) = Suffix -di
Diminutive = Suffix -tɪ
Augmentative = Suffix -ɾi

Dictionary

3046 Words.

Root Languages

• Sylvan Language

Successor Languages

• Thjodanalfen Elvish
• Sagaasan Elvish